Hello Again Art Bead Scene!

I have always enjoyed following the Art Bead Scene Blog and submitting projects for their monthly challenge. For some reason, and because work and life and family got super busy over the last year, I fell out of the habit. This month that changes! The art selected for this month's inspiration really resonated with me - it's called The White Rose and the Red Rose (1902) by Margaret Macdonald. I love how it is so quiet and subtle but with so much movement and color.

I focused at first on the green - I had an awesome heart shaped piece from Round Rabbit Extra with that same green, but I couldn't quite get other things to come together with it to my satisfaction. I poured through my bead collection and came across a copper piece I bought when we took a tour of the Queen Copper Mine in Bisbee, Arizona. (It's a real treat if you are ever in southern Arizona :-)).

The piece had the same random swirls of the picture. As I was looking for better color combinations I came across a lamp work glass bead I had made using smokey clear brown and swirly raku (I think) colors. Both the colors and the bead size fit together with the copper focal perfectly. Purple seemed to be the way to go with the rest of the piece, and I had a container of mixed purple glass beads - small crystals, Czech glass, and even some flower shapes that I strung together to finish the necklace. Many had a copper-y shimmer to them that added some subtle sparkle. I still wanted some green though, so added a small green lamp work spacer you can see on the left side of the focal. I am super happy with how it turned out!

Elisabeth

Elisabeth has been crafty all her life, but beads and jewelry have been her focus for the last few years. A class in lamp working inspired her to build a studio and focus on working with flames and hot glass. Elisabeth lives in Alexandria, Virginia, with her husband, two kids, and dogs Layla and Griffin, all who are frequent stars of this blog.